Currently, voice telecommunication networks apply incoming call controls (ICC) to inbound or incoming calls. Incoming call controls affect how calls are processed by the network. Complex incoming call controls may include a number of rules, which are preferably applied in order. Each incoming call control rule may be implemented using a two step call processing model. The first step of the rule is to identify the call to tell whether the rule should be applied, and the second step of the rule is to dispose of the call to which the rule should be applied. Optionally, these rules may be selected and defined by the customer on the receiving end of the calls. Such selection and definition may be implemented using a Web User Interface or other interface.
Further, incoming call controls may be of increased sophistication as they are integrated with external sources of information like Personal Address Books (PAB), calendars, and call logs. An example of increased incoming call control complexity is when a household desires to limit calls between 10:00 PM at night and 8:00 AM in the morning to those numbers listed in their PAB. In this example, all night-time calls received from telephone numbers not listed in the PAB may be blocked by an announcement, such as “The party you have called doesn't accept calls during this time. Please try your call again later.”
Incoming call controls may be used, for example, to make a person more accessible or less accessible. An example of an incoming call controls that may make customers more accessible is a locating service, which may attempt to find the called party at a different telephone number than the one dialed. The locating service may involve the end-user publishing a “primary” number. The primary number may be a DID number associated with a call answering service or a telephone number (wireless or wireline) with a call answering service like Plain Old Voicemail (POVM) or Unified Messaging Service (UMS) that includes a locating capability. When a caller calls and the locating service is activated, the service may say something such as, “<Name Announcement> is not available right now. Please speak your name after the tone and I will attempt to locate them or press one to go directly to voicemail. <BEEP>” The subscriber may record this name announcement during the setup for their service. Next, the caller speaks their name. Then the system may say, “Please hold while I locate them.”
The service may dial each of the telephone numbers in the end-user's contact list. Two exemplary methods of doing this are to call each number in the contact list one at a time or to call all numbers in the contact list at the same time. The caller may be restricted from hearing what is going on with regard to the called contact numbers, such that he is effectively on hold. If any of the dialed numbers is answered, the person answering the call may hear, “<Name Announcement> has a call from <Caller's Spoken Name>. To take the call, press one. To send the call to voicemail press two.” The called party may also be required to provide a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to authenticate that they are really the subscriber. If the subscriber accepts the call, the caller is connected to the end-user on the answered phone. Otherwise, the caller may be directed to the end-user's voicemail service. However, as should be apparent, callers often endure a delay as they wait for the locating service to find the subscriber.
An example of an incoming call controls that may make a person less accessible is a privacy failure, which may help customers avoid telemarketing calls. However, even the most well thought out incoming call control rules may reduce a customer's ability to be contacted when applied to all inbound calls, especially during emergencies. For example, a privacy feature may be activated when a caller's telephone number information is unknown or unavailable to the terminating network. When the calling party information is unavailable, the call may be directed to the privacy feature instead of ringing through to the called party's phone. The privacy feature may force the caller to provide either their name or a DTMF PIN number. When the caller doesn't have a PIN number, they may be required to state their name. The privacy feature may then call the called party and ask them if they wish to take the call. Again, such features provide significant delays for a calling party trying to reach a called party.
Incoming call control has two ways of looking at inbound calls. The first (shown) is by telephone number. Telephone numbers can be entered manually or selected from a list of telephone numbers generated by scanning the address book. The second method (not shown) is by name. When names are used, they are matched to the address book and all telephone numbers associated with the name are treated by the same inbound call management “rule.” Matching inbound calls can be given a distinctive ring tone. The distinctive ring tone sets the call apart from other inbound calls. Inbound calls can be forwarded to different destinations based on a ring/no answer rule. The subscriber has the ability to select the number of rings the call makes on the customer's phone before being forwarded. Calls can be forwarded to another number or voicemail. Additionally, inbound calls can be directed into a locating type service. The locating capability can try each of the possible terminating numbers in sequence or in parallel. The sequential mode works like most locating implementations, while the parallel mode works like simultaneous ring feature.
A blocking capability could also be used. Callers who are blocked hear a system announcement indicating that the called party has elected not to receive calls from the calling party. Alternatively, the caller can hear a busy signal as though the customer's line is always busy even when the line isn't busy. Another alternative would be that the caller could hear a ring tone as though the customer's line never answers. In this mode, the customer would not hear ringing on their line. Only the caller would hear ringing. The caller can be directed to different announcements, thereby providing interactive call blocking. The announcements can be the called party is unavailable, the called party doesn't accept telemarketing calls, a personal announcement recorded by the subscriber, a holiday greeting recorded by the customer, etc.
A caller could be asked to provide the system with their name. Once a name is recorded by the system, a call is placed to the customer's phone asking the customer if they wish to take a call from the calling party. The customer can elect to direct the call to an announcement (matching the recorded announcements described in the previous paragraph), accept the call, or forward the call directly into voicemail. Blocked calls that are blocked by an announcement or interactive call blocking can be overridden by a subscriber defined PIN number. The caller would enter the PIN during the announcement and the call would be directed to the customer's number. The capabilities described above can be applied based on a schedule, such as date/time controls set by the user on a webpage.
A shortcoming of conventional networks is that these incoming call controls may impede legitimate calls in an emergency situation. In the situation where an emergency arises in the house, one incoming call controls methodology may suggest that a phone number of an emergency service might use to call a household be included the PAB. Then, calls from this number could be passed through to the household. This may work for some known emergency services numbers, but this methodology would be impractical because it would not work in all situations. For example, emergency services personnel often carry wireless phones or call from emergency call centers. The many telephones that emergency service personnel use may render this solution infeasible. Moreover, there is no telephone line class (payphone, hotel, regular phone, etc.) that identifies emergency services in the inbound call's setup information.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved a method of and system for altering incoming call controls after a call has been placed to an emergency number.